Lucen unlocked the door without looking at the keypad.
The apartment's lock clicked open with its usual half-second delay. He didn't wait for it to finish. Just leaned his shoulder into the door and stepped through as it swung in.
The lights didn't come on.
He didn't turn them on.
The hallway buzzed faintly behind him as the auto-seal engaged. The outer latch thumped once, sealing the door with a hiss of pressure that was just a little too loud in the silence.
Lucen exhaled.
Long. Slow.
He stood in the entry for three full seconds. No bags. No armor removal. Just stillness.
Then he dropped his coat over the chair by the kitchen and walked barefoot across the tile floor. It was cold underfoot.
Not dead cold, just that high-density chill that old mana insulation left behind.
The windows were half-open from earlier.
Curtains shifted faintly in the city breeze.
